Summit ends Marauders streak at 12, 35-21

MOUNT OLIVE TWP. - Jimm Kramer would like to have back about
half of the second quarter, a four- or five-minute window when he
thought his Mount Olive football team "got caught back our heels a
little bit."

It was during that stretch that Summit scored 21 points, erasing
a 13-0 deficit and taking the game into the fourth period where it
scored two more TDs to nail down a 35-21 victory that snapped Mount
Olive's two-season, 12-game winning streak.

"We thought we had a pretty good game plan and felt pretty good
about jumping out to a 13-0 lead in the first period," Kramer said.
"We knew we'd have our hands full with them because they are so
much bigger and stronger, but we also thought that if we got to
team early they might have trouble playing catch-up on us.

"But they ended up putting together three sustained drives,
something we didn't think they could do. But give them credit
because that's exactly what they did . and it beat us."

After Brian Lyko had thrown touchdowns passes of 42 yards to
Justin Dalton and 45 yards to Jamar Mack to give Mount Olive (1-1)
that first-period lead, Summit (2-0) scored on three straight
possessions in the second period to take a 21-13 lead at the
half.

Summit capped a 12-play drive for its first TD, a 9-yard pass
from Rob Schroeder to Brad Dolny. The second drive was more of a
quick hitter and ended with a 30-yard pass from Schroeder to Dwight
Reid. The third drive was an 11-play, 70-yard drive that Schroeder
finished off with a 13-yard TD run.

Disappointing Play

"That was the only time in the game that I was disappointed in
our play," Kramer explained. "It seemed as if we started to tire
about mid-way through the second quarter. We got down on our
heels.

"After they scored their third TD, we get the ball back with
1:50 to go in the half," Kramer said. "Jamar broke a long run to
get to their 25 but, just as we were setting up something to get us
some points, we fumbled.

"They recovered, but took a knee to run out the halftime clock.
We didn't have a very good second quarter."

Kramer said he addressed the team about it at halftime and he
was more than pleased with the way the Marauders came out and tied
the score on their second possession of the half.

Mount Olive took the second-half kickoff, ran six plays, and was
forced to punt.

"We held them to three-and-out and got the ball back," Lusardi
said. "We moved Pedro Santiago to backside tight end to take
advantage of his speed and we ran a little dump pass to him and he
was off all alone, just cruising right in."

After Brian Lyko ran in the 2-point conversion, the scored was
tied at 21 with the entire fourth period ahead.

It was all Summit in the last quarter, however, as Schroeder
gave Summit the lead for good with a 1-yard plunge early in the
quarter and then took advantage of a Mount Olive turnover to move
25 yards in five plays with Schroeder throwing a 5-yard scoring
pass to Art Coppertithe, who was all alone in the end zone.

"We thought we'd have a shot at them if we kept them out of the
end zone on that drive," Kramer said.

"But, in the end, they just wore us down."

Even so, Mount Olive got the ball back again with 3:57 left to
play.

"We got down to their 40 and ran out of downs," Kramer said.
"And it was over."

Kramer & Co. have to regroup quickly for tonight's
(Thursday, Sept. 25) home game against Weequahic, a team that is
almost as big and strong as Summit.

"They have a lot of good athletes and, while they don't have the
physical size and strength as Summit, we can't get into another
backyard brawl with them," Kramer said.

"We'll have to play very structured team offense and team
defense."

Almost as he had expected from a big, physical team like Summit,
Kramer said Mount Olive came out of the game with a few more bumps
and bruises than usual.

"Nothing major but we did get banged up pretty good," Kramer
said. ""Hopefully, we'll all be ready for Weequahic."

NOTES - Dalton, just a sophomore, showed good
concentration when he made his TD catch off a tipped ball and then
took it in from 42 yards out .

"He caught it in stride and took it right in," Kramer said.

Three big catches led to the second TD. Soph Keith Polizois made
two key catches on third-downs plays and Dalton made a big 12-yard
pickup to keep Mount Olive's 81-yard second drive going . Mack
finished it off by catching a play-action pass from Lyko and taking
it in from 45 yards out . Mack finished with 104 yards on 13
carries and Lyco was 8-for-14 for 126 yards and 3 TDs .

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